——结果与讨论，可以理解为“客观结果与主观讨论”

                                        ——主观之结论，在中英文语境中也有后续讨论的空间

                                        ——非特别需要，一般科学论文的讨论宜放结论之前

       中文期刊的审稿中，时常遇到这个情况，一些期刊发表的文章中，“结论与讨论”的静态也偶或见到。我一般认为，除非特别必要，讨论应出现在结论之前。但我目前不太确认“讨论与结论”次序的明确或学界习用说法。那么，学术论文，特别是科学论文中，“结论与讨论”的出现次序明显欠妥还是在某些情况下成立？

        一篇科学网博文《科技论文中“讨论”的写作》（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-96298-541844.html）后的评论谈到：“国外期刊一般都有明确的讨论这一节,先Discussion一节, 然后是Conclusions一节,或Discussion and Conclusions,但文章一般较长,能把问题说清楚. 但国内期刊都有明确字数限制,有的还不超过6000字,很难把问题讲清楚. 国内刊物没有明确的讨论这一节,最多是结论部分说上几句。”

       “讨论与结论”的出现次序是一个问题。另一个问题是，“结论”中是否可以容纳，或容纳哪些讨论性质的内容？

         科学网博客文章《写好科技论文“结果”部分的十要诀》（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=39523&do=blog&id=260475）的作者指出：“许多期刊将“结果与讨论”合并，或“讨论与结论”合并，但“结果”与“结论”很少合并在一起的，两者是有区别的。的确，有些作者分不清“结果”与“结论”，混为一谈。简言之，“结果”是数据，是现象、事实，“结论”则是隐藏的事实背后的规律性的东西，需要通过概念、判断、推理等分析讨论数据和现象，才有可能能揭示出规律。如果一篇研究论文只停留在“结果”层面，则较为初步和局限，达不到应有的理论深度，其学术价值也会大打折扣。”

       科学网博主王应宽老师指出：“讨论通常被认为是一篇论文的‘心脏‘，最能反映作者掌握的文献量和对某个学术问题的了解和理解程度。讨论是许多中国作者论文的薄弱环节，也是与国际作者论文的差距所在。 ”（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=39523&do=blog&id=48244）。期刊论文《再论科技论文结论的必要性--兼与高鲁山先生商榷》作者认为：“结论是论文的精髓和归宿”，结论有画龙点睛之作用（http://www.docin.com/p-807410515.html）。

       摘录小木虫上一个围绕《问大家个问题，硕士毕业论文先讨论还是先结论？结论和讨论分开还是在一起？》的讨论（http://muchong.com/t-5766112-1）：“提问者：现在老师告诉我要我先写结论在进行讨论。我觉得他说的不对啊。而且告诉我格式是 第四章 结论与讨论”。有虫友答复：“分开写，先先有结果，得出结论，后引用文献分析、推论与未来发展等详细讨论。”也有虫友答复：“应该是先写结论再讨论的”。又有虫友答复：“分开写，先写结论，后详细讨论。”

       博文《高水平论文讨论的写法——从祝燕等(2018)的论文说起》（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-255662-1100557.html）认为：“研究论文写作的确有一定的套路。虽然被有些人称为八股文式的写法，但由于这样容易被人接受，仍然是现在最重要的写作方式，所以值得借鉴。这里主要谈谈这篇论文的讨论部分是怎么写的。讨论的主要内容，一般是将研究结果放在大的研究背景中，以更深入地阐述研究的意义，使其有所启发。生态学研究是讨论一般性的原理和机制，要从研究结果中抽象出新的认知，需要有数据支撑，但是讨论的主题不能过于具体，否则读者可能会觉得研究不具有代表性。”

        高抒老师博客介绍的《地理与海洋科学学院学位论文与期刊投稿论文技术性检查要点17条》（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-2336082-860881.html）明确指出：“‘结论’是正文的最后部分，‘讨论’应置于结论之前，不能采用‘结论与讨论’这样的结构。‘讨论’的内容是与分析结果直接相关的，讨论的目的主要是阐述研究中所获的数据与科学问题之间的关联，并提出需要进一步研究的问题。因此，‘讨论’部分的要点可在‘结论’中进行概括。要记住，一篇论文的‘结论’不是对科学问题的最终结论，而是本文研究的初步结论。” 

      在非正式学术论文的写作中，或许“结论与讨论”的表述在中文语境中有一定的可取之处，比如科学网

李泳老师的博文《一个普适的面条评估模型》（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-279992-563708.html）最后一部分就是“4 结论和讨论”。汤克云老师的博文《千里共婵娟：时间是共同的约定》（http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-773716-1003682.html）最后一部分也是“结论和讨论”。

        关于“讨论与结论”孰先孰后的问题同样也在西方有着争议（http://eloquentscience.com/2014/10/conclusions-and-discussion-what-should-you-call-the-last-section-of-your-paper/），网文《Conclusions and Discussion”? What should you call the last section of your paper?》中，曼彻斯特大学气象学教授David M. Schultz与网友讨论了这个问题（网友提问：“I find that many authors call their closing section “Conclusions and discussion”, rather than ‘Discussion and conclusions”. I prefer the latter because, to me, it is logical to first discuss your results in a wider context, and then draw conclusions. However, I also understand why they do it. Usually, they have structured the section such that the conclusions come first, and then they go on to discuss the implications of those conclusions, often in terms of future avenues of research. Sometimes I ask that they consider renaming the section “Conclusions and future perspective”, or similar, especially if the discussion in terms of their own results has largely taken place earlier in the paper. However, it is not always that clear cut, and after deliberating about it for longer than I probably should, I often end up leaving the heading as it is. So, what I’m interested to hear from you is, does “Conclusions and discussion” also not quite sit right with you, or do you think it is fairly acceptable and that I should quit worrying over nothing?”David M. Schultz的回复：“I, too, have noticed this tendency for “Conclusions and discussion”. I’m not sure what is behind it. In such a case, I would recommend to the author to use “Conclusion”, implying that this section concludes the paper, without reference to what the “Conclusion” section contains. It may contain “conclusions”, but it may contain other discussion points, as well.I like your suggestion for “Conclusions and (future) perspective”. That’s a good solution, if it works for that particular paper and the author.I think if you are going to have “Discussion and conclusions” with the discussion first, then you ought to break this up into two sections.”）。英文网文《Discussion Vs. Conclusion: Know the Difference Before Drafting Manuscripts》也指出：“不少作者困惑于讨论与结论的差异”（https://www.enago.com/academy/discussion-conclusion-know-difference-drafting-manuscript/），作者建议困惑的人士可大体将结论视作Summary：“Many writers confuse the information they should include in their discussion with the information they should place in their conclusion. One easy way to avoid this confusion is to think of your conclusion as a summary of everything that you have said thus far. 网文《What is the difference between Discussion and Conclusion?》提出了类似的建议：“Discussion can be judgmental while the conclusion is just a final summary of a dissertation. Conclusion is the final word by a writer while discussion comes just before conclusion and analyzes the position taken by the writer. Discussion takes into account other points of view while the conclusion is all about presenting the main points in a concise manner.”（https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-discussion-and-vs-conclusion/）。

      “现有研究存在的不足与缺陷”，这部分内容在“讨论”与“结论”部分如何处理可能是个难点。网文建议在“结论”中说明现有结果未达到预期的不足：“Writing a Conclusion Section A conclusion section provides a synopsis of work in which the results findings are mapped to the objectives. The conclusion section can also include lessons learned and future research areas that could shed further light on the current experiment. Typically, a detailed analysis of findings is provided in the conclusion section, including the reasons for not achieving the predicted outcome if the results did not meet the expectations.””有时候，正式论文中，仅以“结论”为子标题作为结束，文章的“不足”似乎难以显性地展现，“结论、不足与展望”的子标题或许有时可用。

附1：http://xueshu.baidu.com/usercenter/paper/show?paperid=771f5a661484d56cf07d5195687fb61a&site=xueshu_se

                                                       再论科技论文结论的必要性--兼与高鲁山先生商榷

                                                                     杨华生，刘彦琴，潘秀华等

摘要：我们曾对科技期刊上没有结论的论文进行过分析,发现其中绝大多数论文均可导出结论.其所以无结论,与我国有关论文编写格式的国家标准及写作专著对结论写作的要求过于宽泛及结论写作存在误区有关,因此我们撰写了[1]一文...     

附2：https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143984/

       一篇由加拿大多位博士共同撰著的正式研究报告（130页）的分标题是“Introduction；Methods；Results；Conclusions（Limitations, and Discussion）；Future Research Suggestions”，把讨论置于结论之中，即结论直接包括两个小标题“局限与讨论”。

附3：https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/one-hundred-years-social-capital/conclusion-and-discussion/

       一篇荷兰的学位论文、后并出版的《 Co-creation of Innovation: Investment with and in Social Capital》章节采用了“CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION”的次序。

附3：https://www.excellent-proofreading-and-writing.com/scientific-paper-4.html

                 Writing a Scientific Paper - Results, Discussion and Conclusion Sections

                                                                Conclusion

    Often the conclusion will be in the final paragraph of the discussion but it can sometimes be in a separate section(通常地，结论作为讨论中的最后一部分，有时也会作为一个独立部分).This is the overall main point or points that you want your readers to remember. They should be clearly stated.The conclusion should not repeat information from the discussion section but restate the main conclusions in a new concise way for your readers, so that they are in no doubt what you have achieved while doing the research presented in your paper.

附4：https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13582/paper-ending-conclusion-vs-conclusions

一本比较权威、已出至13版的英文写作书籍《Little, Brown Compact Handbook》中关于“讨论”与“结论”的阐述

      According to the Little, Brown Compact Handbook, in MLA style the final section is called the "Conclusion", while in APA style the final section will be labeled "Discussion". When using either citation style (and I would assume this holds no matter what citation style you are using), this section will contain your summary/interpretation, the conclusions (plural) that you wish the reader to take away from the paper, and perhaps a call to action or an outline of future work. So you are right,conclusions [are] things to take away from a paper, and a conclusion [is] the end of something... though not necessarily the end of a book; a conclusion can be the end of a paper, article, etc.